Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Controversy Between the Two Theories

Xu Zhenyu walked into the director's room holding a booklet of "Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Han Tomb No. 7 in Xilingxia". The sun shines in from the floor-to-ceiling steel windows on the right side of the director's room, illuminating the room brightly.In front of a large writing desk with tall legs stood a sky-blue, chest-high celestial globe.Under the control of the computer, it rotates slowly in strict accordance with the time when the stars in the sky come and go.Xu Zhenyu glanced at the celestial globe, and saw the constellation of Virgo rising slowly from the horizon of the celestial globe.On the left wall of the director's room are pictures of the sun, planets, comets, moons, asteroids and several famous nebulae in the universe.These color photos look spectacular.On the back wall, there are colorful portraits of Zhang Heng, Zu Chongzhi, Yixing and Guo Shoujing painted by Jiang Zhaohe.Below the portrait is a row of bookcases filled with all kinds of books.

"Xiao Xu, sit down!" An old man of moderate build brought him a chair and placed it next to the floor-standing celestial globe. This old man is Professor Huang Jingzhi, the director of the famous Nanshan Observatory.On his clear square face, there are a pair of deep eyes, with crow's feet faintly appearing at the corners of the eyes, and an unusually wide forehead is exposed between the gray sideburns.The pair of deep myopia glasses on the bridge of his nose not only did not prevent him from gaining insight into the mysteries of the universe, but instead helped him become a knowledgeable scholar.

"Professor Huang, have you read this archaeological excavation report?" Xu Zhenyu opened the booklet in his hand. "seen it already." "Do you believe the record about the copper ball?" The old professor's eyes were full of luster, and he said excitedly: "During the Eastern Han Dynasty in our country, there was the 'water transportation muddy phenomenon' invented by Zhang Heng." Having said that, he moved his gaze out of the window.Outside the window is an imitation of a waterborne armillary sphere as tall as a person, as well as ancient Chinese armillary spheres, equatorial theodolites and chronometers.The sun shone brightly on these bronze instruments.The old professor's deep eyes burst out with infinite admiration.He closed his eyes and turned to the slowly rotating celestial globe in the room.

"Xiao Xu, look at this modern celestial globe. Its basic principles and functions are almost the same as those of the 'Water Transporting Chaos' invented by Zhang Heng 1,800 years ago. It's just that this celestial globe uses computers to control time and is driven by electricity; However, Zhang Heng's "Water Transporting Chaotic Image" uses water dripping from a clepsydra to control time and is driven by hydraulic power. It can be seen that Zhang Heng's "Water Transporting Cloudy Image" is already a very complete celestial globe. It cannot be the earliest ancient Chinese cloudy image. There must have been a relatively simple one before this. If Zhang Heng had a simple Hunxiang three hundred years ago, wouldn’t that be reasonable? Therefore, I speculate that the copper ball is Zhang Heng’s previous Hunxiang.”

Huang Jingzhi opened the drawer, took out a large photo of the ancient star map, pointed to it and said: "The star map copied by Lu Qian is indeed not very accurate, and some stars are even inaccurate at all. This just shows that the copper spherical image was produced earlier. In that era, the accuracy of celestial globes was lower. It's totally understandable." "Speaking of which, this ancient star map is not completely unrecognizable." The old professor pointed to a place on the star map and said, "On the basis of Comrade Ren Sihong's first identification of Orion, I recently also proved that Out of Ursa Major and Canis Major..."

"Really?" Xu Zhenyu stood up in surprise. "Look, these seven stars are the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major." Huang Jingzhi paused for a while, then pointed to another place on the photo: "Look again, at the oblique lower part of Orion, these stars are the constellation Canis Major." Xu Zhenyu shook his head: "Why not an elephant?" "Is it an elephant? Have you noticed that there is one missing in this constellation..." "Oh! I see," Xu Zhenyu exclaimed, "I'm missing a Sirius star, the brightest Sirius star in the sky!"

"Sirius, which attracts so much attention, Lu Qian will not miss it. Sooner or later we will definitely be able to identify it!" The old professor said confidently. A few days later, the "Academic Research of Archeology" published an article by Professor Huang Jingzhi, and the saying that the copper ball was a celestial globe spread. One day, Xu Zhenyu was browsing magazines in the reference room of Nanshan Observatory, and accidentally saw an article written by Guo Yiping, an associate professor of the history department of the university, in the "Journal of Yangtze University", entitled "Can the celestial globe be unearthed automatically?" ——Discussion with Comrade Huang Jingzhi", I read it carefully.

The article stated that judging from the content of the unearthed bamboo slips, the color of superstition is very heavy, and some places are described like myths, which is really unconvincing.According to the author's analysis, the reason why Lu Qian, the magistrate of Jiangling County, wanted to do this can only be found in the social and historical roots.According to historical records, "Jingchu has rich rivers, rivers, rivers, rivers, rivers, lakes, mountains and forests. The people eat fish and rice, fish and hunt mountain cuttings as a profession, believe in witches and ghosts, and worship prostitution." It is not difficult to understand why the superstition on the bamboo slips is so strong. up.

The article also said that the reason why Lu Qian wanted to do this was to make people believe that his ancient star map came from the will of God, which was extraordinary, and to win the recognition of scholars at that time. The author of the article also said that the bamboo slips recorded that "the copper ball came out of the soil", which described the copper ball as a machine that could be automatically unearthed.Given the well-known level of production technology in the Western Han Dynasty, it was simply impossible to manufacture any automatic machinery in the modern sense at that time.Comrade Huang Jingzhi described it as an ancient celestial globe. We can't help but ask: Can the celestial globe be unearthed automatically?

The associate professor of history finally wrote that based on this analysis, the ancient star map unearthed from the No. 7 Han Tomb in Xilingxia is just a star map used by Lu Qian to observe the sky.Given its poor precision, it is of little scientific value.As for the theory that this picture was copied from the copper ball, it is just a false entrustment of Lu Qian. After reading it, Xu Zhenyu took the magazine and hurried to the director's room. The Department of History of Yangtze University organized an "Academic Symposium on the Star Map of the Han Dynasty Tomb No. 7 in Xilingxia". Some relevant units inside and outside the province were invited. Nanshan Observatory, which is on par with Zijinshan Observatory and Beijing Observatory, is no exception.Huang Jingzhi and Xu Zhenyu met Ren Sihong at the door of the meeting room. They walked into the venue together and sat together.

The organizer of the symposium briefly introduced the situation of the debate in the previous period, and he went on to say: "There are currently two views on the origin of the ancient star map. One is the entity theory represented by Professor Huang Jingzhi, and the other is the false supposition theory represented by Associate Professor Guo Yiping. Now I invite the two of them to speak first." Huang Jingzhi stood up from his seat. He didn't take the speech script. After looking around the venue, he said: "The description on the bamboo slips about the copper ball being unearthed was probably not written by Lu Qian himself, maybe a literati was hired as a ghostwriter. The ghostwriter used exaggerated techniques, vividly depicting the copper ball as it drilled out of the ground. In fact, it is not necessarily That’s right. I think the five characters in the bamboo slips, “Bronze balls come out of the soil,” are closer to Lu Qian’s original record. If we don’t describe these five characters as automatically drilling out of the ground, we interpret it as coming from Wouldn't it be more appropriate to find copper balls underground!" Huang Jingzhi paused, and still said in a very calm tone: "I carefully analyzed Lu Qian's astronomical observation records, and found that its accuracy is very high, which is almost the same as today's observation results. What a remarkable achievement this is under the technical conditions of the Western Han Dynasty! I think Lu Qian must have He was a serious astronomer in ancient my country. It can be considered that the ancient star map drawn by Lu Qian must be consistent with the star map on the copper ball." Guo Yiping continued to speak.He is not tall, with a rosy round face, two slender eyes showing a realistic gaze, and a stubborn look on his thick lips.Although he has just turned forty, he is already bald.He read one of his papers, and then, in a melodious voice, said: "I really don't agree with Professor Huang's statement. If 'the copper ball came out of the soil' refers to excavation, then 'the copper ball returned to the soil and disappeared' should mean that the copper ball was buried in the soil again. Is it possible?" When Guo Yiping spoke up to this point, he suddenly paused, as if to remind everyone of what he just said, and then continued: "If it is said that 'the copper ball came out of the soil' is closer to Lu Qian's original record, but 'the copper ball returned to the soil and disappeared' is an exaggeration written by literati, with all due respect, this method of analyzing the problem, even if it is not taken out of context , or at least contradict itself.” An astronomer in Shaanxi spoke at the meeting in support of Guo Yiping's hypothetical theory, and he also used one of his own research results to develop the hypothetical theory.He said excitedly: "I have identified the Southern Triangle constellation from the ancient star map! This constellation, whether it is in the Central Plains of my country or near Jiangling, cannot be observed." He put a photo into a projector, and an ancient star map was immediately displayed on the screen.On this map, the Southern Triangle constellation is marked with a red circle.He pointed to the stars and said: "Everyone knows that if the copper ball was an ancient celestial globe in our country, there would be no Southern Triangle constellation on it. However, there is one on the ancient star map, which fully proves that the ancient star map is not based on the so-called copper ball. Therefore, Lu Qian's statement that the ancient star map came from a copper ball can only be a false pretense!" Guo Yiping nodded repeatedly in his seat. The astronomer raised his voice: "According to my speculation, the ancient star map in Lu Qian's tomb was probably introduced from the ancient Egyptians." There were whispers and discussions at the venue. Huang Jingzhi also felt that these problems were difficult to explain in terms of reality. A thought suddenly flashed in his mind, and he whispered to Xu Zhenyu: "I have an idea. Taking advantage of the less busy work in Taili these days, I will go to the Xiakou Regional Museum and study the bamboo slips carefully to see if I can find some new evidence." "Can I go with you?" Xu Zhenyu was very interested. "Of course." Huang Jingzhi said happily, "Speak to Ren Sihong and ask him to contact us." Xu Zhenyu turned his head and said to Ren Sihong. "It's a coincidence. I'm going to Xiling Gorge recently. If you want, we can go together. We will first inspect the natural environment around the tomb site, and then go to the Xiakou Regional Museum to see the bamboo slips." Ren Sihong said enthusiastically. Xu Zhenyu turned his face to look at Huang Jingzhi again, Huang Jingzhi nodded and said: "That's better." Ren Sihong didn't wait for Xu Zhenyu to speak, and said with a smile: "Okay, then we will make a deal, the day after tomorrow, That is, September 21st, starting at 11 am. I will be responsible for the work, board and lodging issues over there, so you can rest assured."